Success in Admissions
“We are constantly invited to be who we are.”
It’s been several weeks since we’ve snapped into a different tempo from the summer; it’s late fall, the early admissions deadline for colleges having come and gone and Thanksgiving’s around the corner.
I’ve been tutoring college admissions for more than fifteen years now and the landscape has changed considerably, both in process and in student focus. My students once worried they weren’t preparing in the right way or choosing the best essay topics; they would ask me what they needed to write about to get into their top choices. Now, they tend to begin at a less overtly anxious place. They arrive ready and eager to showcase something about themselves that is fearless, authentic and frankly vulnerable — and admissions culture has opened up to a wider range of topics. My role has transformed, as a result, from an imaginative sounding board in essay development to that of a supportive guide helping my students stay true to themselves.
Of course, this still involves selecting an intelligent array of colleges, pulling together the student’s extracurriculars, identifying the teachers and mentors best poised to recommend, prepping for that last SAT and more. But, in the end, amidst the morass of logistical details and essay ideation, the most important thing is that the student position herself in a way that she can wholeheartedly endorse. This is as true in the admissions process as it is in life. It’s also important to remember that the college admissions process, while sometimes thoughtful and enlightening, is often irregular and stochastic. My best advice to any student is to be true to her intuition and ideals, stay resilient in the face of challenges, and celebrate the results of the process.
Wishing authenticity in application, and the very best of luck,
Hyeseung Marriage-Song
Senior Mentor
Oxford Tutors NYC